Where did the truffles go? Mamma Mia, they're at the Stone Zoo!

Out of the shower & off to work after making a few truffles...

For the past two weekends, I have been working (slowly) on chocolate truffles. I started this tradition a little while ago when Ed and I first married. Last year, I disappointed Ed's Dad by not making any (Ed had just returned from Iraq and I spent most of December in Alaska with Ed or in Wisconsin with Ed and his family). So...this year, I had a little bit of time to put together some tasty truffles. Sometimes they can be frustrating to make -- the chocolate melts too fast, the coating decides to thicken too quickly before I have time to dip all of the truffles, etc. But, I have prevailed and will be sending out my boxes of truffles tomorrow (actually Ed will be sending the truffles out because I still have to work until Thursday of this week).

Not only did I find time to make truffles, Ed and I found time to go to the New England Stone Zoo Saturday night, December 8th. Ed read in the newspaper that the zoo has a spectacular light show during Christmas time and it is the "thing to do". So...we decided to go and see what it was all about. When we arrived at the zoo, the newspaper didn't disappoint -- the line was soooo looong. I couldn't believe that so many people came out of the light display. When we finally made it inside, everything was lit up (it kind of made me miss not having a tree this year in our apartment). We tried looking for the animals that we still out, but most of them were hidden away, sleeping (like everything else in Massachusetts, Ed thinks the animals must be unionized). I was kind of surprised to see all of the birds that were still out and about at night. Who would've guess that most of the mammals (minus the river otters) would be sleeping and the birds would be awake. The birds that were awake weren't owls or anything you would consider nocturnal. They were tropical birds like flamingoes (who for some reason lived in an area exposed by the weather and they were standing in snow), etc. Not only was the animal area lit up, there was also a Christmas area featuring various Christmas themes. That was kind of corny, but the kids seemed to love it.

This past Saturday, Ed and I had tickets to see the Broadway show, Mamma Mia. The show centers around a Greek wedding and features the music of ABBA. Most of the older people there were either swaying to the music or humming to it. It was kind of funny. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), Ed and I didn't know every ABBA song. We just know the popular ones (ie Dancing Queen, SOS, etc.). Even though the show was a lot of fun, I don't think that it is appropriate for young kids (Ed and I were there for the afternoon showing and saw a lot of grade school age kids). There were a lot of references to drugs (surprise, surprise) and a lot of sexual innuendos. I was quite surprised to see that parents would actually bring their young children to something like that. All the same, I did enjoy the show and I think that Ed liked it as well. But I must say that the best show that I've seen so far is still Wicked.

We've been getting hit with some good New England weather this week and picked up about a foot of snow - so one last picture. Ed was excited that he could use some of the thousands of dollars worth of winter sports gear that we have after living in Alaska - and he did a little snowshoeing for PT this Saturday after the last storm. I guess Tiger wanted to go outside too!...

Vermont is overrun by Canadians!

This past Thanksgiving weekend, Ed and I decided to head to Vermont for two days (Friday and Saturday to be specific). Vermont is known for small towns and local products, so we built our schedule around those two ideas.

Friday, we first stopped off in the town of Plymouth Union. Plymouth Union was President Calvin Coolidge's boyhood home. We toured and purchased some cheese at the Plymouth Cheese Factory (now currently known as Frog City Cheese), which was established by Calvin Coolidge's father. The cheese tasted great -- it's a "special" cheese because it's made from granular cheese curds (whatever that means -- I just eat it). After we purchased our cheese, Ed and I drove up to another small town and stopped off at a huge maple store. We of course bought some maple syrup to have on our weekend pancakes. To my surprise, it was being invaded by the Quebecois.

Not to my surprise, Ed wanted to see a battlefield -- the Hubbardton battlefield from the Revolutionary War. According to Ed, the battlefield is so far out in the sticks that no one really visits it and it is supposed to be the most "original" of the Revolutionary War battlefields left. Of course... to get to the battlefield was an adventure in itself. At first we drove down a paved road, then dirt, then paved, then snowy dirt, where Ed almost lost it driving down a steep and curvy part of the road. Ed was navigating off of the Volvo compass and a map with no road names (of course there were no street signs either) so the drive was a little scary for me -- but we were quickly rewarded when we found a group of four river otters playing in a little creek alongside the road. We watched the otters for a few minutes and then fortunately made it to the battlefield in one piece (oh, the things Ed will do for battlefields and forts) and we were able to walk around the wonderfully preserved battlefield in 20 degree weather and snow. To me it looked like a field that needed to be mowed, but to Ed it was Revolutionary War history. Fortunately, they strategically posted placards to show what happened in the various areas or else I would've been lost. We walked around the overgrown, snowy field reading placards and then we headed to car to thaw out.

Then we attempted to make a bee-line for the arts town of Middlebury, Vermont. Unforutnately, Ed was easily distracted by a sign that indicated that we were close to ANOTHER battlefield. He quickly reconned the map and saw that we were only 11 miles away from Mount Independence. Mount Independence was on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain and overlooked the important post of Fort Ticonderoga on the New York side of the lake. I was still cold from our earlier walk, so I stayed in the cozy car napping while Ed ran around on his own -- haha!

After a nice lunch and some gallery hopping in Middlebury, we finally headed towards Burlington. Along the way we ventured to the Vermont Teddy Bear Company headquarters (I was surprised to hear that the Vermont Teddy Bear Company is the most visited place in Vermont). Of course I had to build a bear seeing Ed had me looking at Revolutionary War stuff all day. We then settled in for the night at the Inn at Essex, home to the New England Culinary Institute, where the Quebecois decided to take up residence.

The next day went a little quicker. We started off making a couple of brief stops in downtown Burlington to look around and/or to buy some Christmas presents (Ed and I have to buy a total of 13 presents for Christmas time. To Ed's frustration, at times, he married a woman who has a very, very large extended family -- 8 nieces and nephews -- and we buy gifts for all of them, which can get very, very expensive). The town was packed with Canadians who were Christmas shopping south of the border because of the weak U.S. dollar.

From Burlington, we started home and made stops in the state capital (Montpelier) and also at Norwich University (it's tiny).

We were home in time for dinner and go to finish up the weekend spending some quality time with our cats, Tiger and Whiskers.

What's in Bangor, Maine?

This past weekend, Ed and I traveled to Bangor, Maine to watch the Lipizzaner stallions (http://www.lipizzaner.com/). Originally, we thought that they were the original horses from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna (we toured the riding school when we visited Austria last January), but we soon found out that they were only associated with the riding school and they do perform classical dressage like the stallions in Vienna. So...I was still excited to go and see what the performance was all about.

Saturday morning we woke up early (for some reason I wake up no later than 8AM on the weekends recently -- I'm not sure what is going on) and left for Bangor with brief stops in Kittery, Maine (for the Kittery Trading Post, which is an outlet for outdoor clothing) and Old Town, Maine where Old Town Canoe is located. Ed has an Old Town Canoe and was excited to go and see the plant and town. Unfortunately, Old Town Canoe wasn't very impressive for being the largest canoe maker in the US/world. The place looked really run-down and the store was located in an old elementary school (probably circa 1950) that wasn't well kept. We did, however, find a nice shop that contains Wabenaki Indian basketry from Maine (http://www.maineindianbaskets.org/). And yes, I found an Indian basket that I have been able to incorporate into my mostly Alaska Native collection.

Later that night, Ed and I braved the Nor'easter (Hurricane Noel) and went to the Lipizzaner show. Fortunately for us, not many people decided to brave it like us and didn't go to see the horse show. So, we had empty seats around us and no one sat in front of me (usually whenever Ed and I go to the movies or if we sit in some type of stadium seating, a tall person had to sit in front of me and I have to strain to see what is going on). The show was spectacular. The emcee did a great job -- he told the story of how the Lipizzaner stallions came to be and he narrated all of the jumps, turns, etc. The horses and riders were spectacular as well. It was amazing to see horses perform in unison.

And in case any of you wondered, yes, Ed had to see another fort. This time it was Fort Western in Augusta, Maine. We have included a picture of the fort so that you can take in its beauty as well. Unfortunately (for Ed), but fortunately (for me), the fort was only open the 3rd Sunday of every month now. So...we missed exploring the interior, but we were able to stand in awe of its exterior. We ended the day, Christmas shopping at the outlets in Freeport, Maine.

Tuesday Night Surprise

Well, Ed picked me up from work, as planned, on Tuesday night. Originally, we planned for Ed to pick me up and I would drop Ed off at a speech at Harvard and I would drive home alone. Well....our plans changed. As soon as I got into the car, Ed informed me that he had sold the truck and I needed to sign some documentation to turn it over to the dealership. I was definitely surprised and didn't really think that Ed was really going to sell his truck (he's talked about it for a while). So...now we're down to one car for the city. I guess that's what's best considering that we live next to public transportation and only drive the cars on the weekend and a couple of times during the week AND next year, we're moving to another city, Washington, DC, where we'll need to live near public transportation as well.

Nova Scotia

Fishing boat on the Annapolis River

The weekend of October 6th, Ed and I went to Nova Scotia for the extended weekend (Ed didn't have school on Monday and I took the day off not realizing that ARIAD didn't give its employees Columbus Day off). We left Saturday morning from Boston and arrived in Halifax during the early afternoon hours. The Halifax Airport looked relatively new and it has won a ton of awards for excellence. I was pleasantly surprised with the airport.

After we arrived, we picked up our rental car and headed West on the Evangeline Trail about two hours to the small town of Annapolis Royal http://www.annapolisroyal.com/. The trip to Annapolis Royal was beautiful -- the leaves in Nova Scotia are starting to change. So, we were able to see the start of the fall season. Once we arrived in Annapolis Royal, we checked out the historic downtwon and the town's Fort Anne. The fort was nice (even though Ed would call all forts "excellent" and "fascinating") and well kept by the Canadian Parks Service. I must say that all of the Canadian sites we visited were all very nice and looked great! They do an excellent job conserving their parks and history. As for Fort Anne, it is situated at the head of the Annapolis River / Bay of Fundy and the views from the fort are spectacular!

HQ building and sallyport at Fort Anne

Later that night, Ed and I attended our first Canadian Thanksgiving at our little Bed and Breakfast. Fortunately, we planned on eating at the B&B because the only other place open to eat was Charlie Wong's Restaurant, which features Chinese and Canadian cuisine (quite diverse eating, huh?). Our Thanksgiving dinner was very nice -- it is very similar to the US' Thanksgiving dinner -- I still had turkey and stuffing, but it came with a couple of additional items (i.e. dried apricots with a sweet and spicy seasoning, stuffed apples, etc.)

Close to Annapolis Royal is Port Royal - the first French trading post in New France back in 1605. The trading post was burned down a long time ago, but the Canadian Parks Service did a nice job reconstructing the sight back in the 1930s. The original site only lasted until 1614, when the colony from Jamestown, Virgina decided to raid it for provisions and killed everyone at the fort except for seven people. The seven survivors spent the winter with the local Mi'kmaq Indian tribe and left the following summer for France permanently.

The next day, we traveled through Kejimkujik National Park to the South Shore and the village of Lunenburg http://www.town.lunenburg.ns.ca/, which is a World UNESCO Heritage site. Ed and I liked the town, but we were surprised to see that it was a UNESCO Heritage site. Lunenburg was THE fishing harbor for Canada years ago and the town does a good job noting that point throughout, but we didn't see how it was a UNESCO Heritage site. When we were in Lunenburg, we toured the Atlantic Fishery Museum and sat through a discussion on lobsters, which was very interesting -- I can now tell the difference between male and female lobsters, etc. We also saw the Bluenose II Schooner (you can see the original Bluenose on the Nova Scotian license plates). The original Bluenose was used as a racing and fishing boat in the early 1900s. The boat won a ton of awards and seemed to be cherished by the Canadians, but the boat was ultimately sold to the West Indies Trading Company and crashed off the shore in Haiti.

Fishing buoys in Lunenberg

Our last stop was in Halifax. Unfortunately when we arrived, they were still celebrating the Canadian Thanksgiving and there weren't a lot of shops open. I did however manage to get Ed to spring for some Nova Scotian crystal http://www.novascotiancrystal.com/ -- we purchased a cool ornament and a small carafe. Now....to get him to pay for the remaining glasses that go with my carafe -- haha! Fortunately, we were able to walk around town and down by the waterfront, which was really nice. We also were able to tour Canada's "Ellis Island," Pier 21 http://www.pier21.ca/. The museum was interesting, but the way that they set it up wasn't that great. I was more interested in hearing about the history and facts and they set it up so that you could read bits and pieces (not the entire story) of people's lives who were processed at Pier 21. I just wished that they had more....

Halifax Harbor

The last day in Halifax, we went to the Halifax Citadel. Officially, it was created to defend colonial Canada against an attack from the French, and later the United States. Unofficially, it was the dumping ground for all of the Scottish Highlanders who were creating trouble in Britain; so the British decided to send them overseas so that they would no longer pose a threat to the country. The fort was nice and it had great views of the city.

Halifax Town Clock & Citadel in a office building reflection

Go Army! Beat BC? Wicked!

Yep, Ed and I went to the Army vs. Boston College game this past weekend. We arrived early to tailgate -- around 9:30AM. I couldn't believe it when the time rolled off of Ed's tongue on Friday, but alas we had to get there at 9:30 AM. Needless to say, I took a nap as soon as humanly possible before the game -- I definitely needed it. About 20 people we knew tailgated before the game and Ed had a good time quizzing the West Point Cadets that walked by about what life was like at the Academy now. I decided to join the party a little closer to noon (I also talked to my sister on the phone for about a half-an-hour prior to joining everyone). Then it was off to the game. I was pleasantly surprised with Army's performance on the field and our seats (in the shade -- it was 80 something degrees that day and sunny -- and on the 50 yard line a few rows up from the Boston College bench). A Harvard classmate of Ed's really hooked us up -- it was great! There were times when I saw a glimmer of genius by the Army team and then there were those other times when BC scored....Ed's classmate summed up the game perfectly (from BC's perspective) -- "The game was exciting, but there was never a doubt".

Later that night, Ed and I shifted gears (and outfits) and went to the musical "Wicked" (http://www.wickedthemusicaltour.com/) . The show was fantastic and the music was powerful (in Ed's terms, which I agree). The show is a take on Disney's The Wizard of Oz prior to and after Dorothy landing in Oz. Wicked shows how the Wicked Witch of the West is misunderstood and the Good Witch of the East is part of the manipulation that ostracizes the Wicked Witch of the West. I loved the musical! It was great!

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Show

German 1917 Albatross D.Va

As you may be able to tell from the title, Ed and I ventured to Rhinebeck, New York to watch airplanes fly around (http://www.oldrhinebeck.org/). Ed may say that they are more than airplanes -- the planes are flying museums -- treasures from the past! All teasing aside, the air show was tons of fun. I'm not always a fan of seeing planes (I must say that I do like the shiney, silver ones), but this show had a corny little love story to go along with it and there was a mock WWI dogfight (with planes) in the end. Oh, and there was a mock German town where the buildings had names like "Der Badz Boyz" and "Der Sausagewerks" (Angie, I'm sure that you've seen buildings like that in Germany -- haha!). The show lasted for two hours. Then Ed and I had to head home. It took three hours to drive to Rhinebeck, but it took four hours to drive home because the Boston traffic was so awful! Fortunately, we made it home and were able to get a good night sleep before we had to work/go to school the next week.

German 1917 Fokker Dr. I chasing French 1917 SPAD VII "We Surrender!"

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend (the first weekend in September) Ed's parents came for a four day visit. They flew into Logan airport Thursday evening during rush hour and were able to enjoy Boston traffic at its peak. Fortunately, we only had to drive less than four miles home, which took us 20-30 minutes -- Hooray traffic!

Friday, we decided to drag them out of town (seeing that Labor Day weekend was coming and we did not want to stuck in "Cape" traffic -- and yes, people call Cape Cod the "Cape" around here). We took them up to Maine and New Hampshire. I think that his parents really enjoyed the scenery and the various towns. Me focused on Portland and Portsmouth. We also made a quick detour and hit the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport, made sure we ate the requisite Maine lobsters and stocked up on seafood at a couple of our favorite fishmongers.

Harbor Fish Market - Portland, Maine

Saturday was one of our many "Boston" days. We started off with stops in Charlestown at Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution. Then we parked at the Coast Guard station in the North End / Little Italy. After wandering through Little Italy to the waterfront, we started off with a ferry trip out to Fort Warren on Georges Island, part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park. After Fort Warren, we stopped at the New England Aquarium. Ed's father wanted to see sharks, but they only had two on show that day -- it was kind of strange only seeing two sharks considering that the Baltimore Aquarium has a tank full of sharks, but I think that he was content only seeing two for the time-being. And yes, Ed's father looked at the Coast Guard boats -- what trip with the Matthaidess' isn't filled with boats/forts/planes? So much for art and beauty (even though Ed would debate the beauty of a boat, fort, and plane). We finished up our day bumming around some of the Freedom Trail sites and Chinatown. I got tired and Ed carried me around for the end of the afternoon.

Sunday, we took his parents to Cape Ann and showed them the towns of Glouchester, Rockport, and Essex -- all weekend long, Ed's dad kept demanding to have clams. So...we took them to the famous New England "Woodman's" for clams. I think that the trip was well worth the wait - everybody polished off about a pound of deep fried clams. Later, we took them to Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. We toured around some of the battlefields and monuments. Then we headed to the farmer's market, Wilson's Farm, in Lexington. The selection of produce at Wilson's is wonderful during the summer! They even have some produce during the early winter months, which is great!

Glouchester Harbor - From Rocky Neck Art Colony

Monday, I took the morning off from touring -- I was way too tired and I still had to work the rest of the week. I definitely do not have the energy that the Matthaidess clan has, but Ed is working on it with me. During the morning, Ed took his parents around Harvard University and the surrounding area. They enjoyed the tour, but didn't realize how small Harvard is - maybe they're used to the larger universities that they have out in the mid-west. We ended their tour with a visit to the JFK Presidential Library and checked out the Boston South Shore area around Quincy.


Tuesday morning, I was off to work (tired) and his parents left for the airport around 5am.

This weekend, I was tired (of course Ed wasn't), but it was my weekend and I decided to spend the weekend running our usual errands and relaxing for a change:-)

New England Air Show

This past Saturday, August 18th, Ed and I met up with Kent, Jae Rin, and Wesley Parks at the New England Air Show at Pease Air National Guard Base near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The day was unusually chilly and windy, but still sunny. We had a great time at the air show and Ed had a wonderfuly time being bossed around by the Parks' little one, Wesley, during our lunch break. Don't worry -- Ed loves being bossed around by little kids (namely, my niece, Ambria -- she's definitely the best at being bossy -- last time we visited my sister, her phrase was constantly "YOU'RE FIRED!" and she would proceed to yell it at you while being less than an inch away from your nose AND pointing with her right index finger in your face -- quite a talented child:-) And no, she did not pick up the phrase from Donald Trump. It came from a Hanna Montana episode). Okay -- back onto the subject at hand -- The air show had tons of planes, but none I could identify (I read National Geographic (skipping over any articles relating to planes or space exploration), The Economist, People (don't tell anyone), etc.). Luckily, I had Ed there and he could name every plane and knew all about the artillery or anything that went along with it -- I, of course, just nodded in agreement...

Sunday, Ed and I didn't do much -- I was too exhausted from working all week and the air show on Saturday. So...we just ran a few errands and stayed at home the remainder of the day.

I don't believe that we will post next week. Ed and I will be using next weekend for preparation as his parents' visit over Labor Day weekend.

Aquarium & North End Markets

Well...we've done it! We joined the New England Aquarium. I'm kind of excited about the prospect of visiting the aquarium as much as I want. We are even able to jump the line -- so long tourists! And yes, even if some of our friends wish to tour the town of Boston, we will kindly take them to the aquarium with us (Ed and I are such "givers"). We're allowed to take up to two guests with our passes.

Some friends of ours told us about the membership at the aquarium. So....Ed and I thought that it would be a good idea to join (after living in DC and going to the Baltimore Aquarium a lot). And hey, if we go to the Aquarium twice, the membership will be paid for AND it's tax-deductible (and I'm always looking for a tax-deduction).

Not only did we go the the aquarium on Saturday, we even went to a 3-D movie at the IMAX (where we able to get a small discount on our movie tickets because we belong to the aquarium). We watched the movie "Deep Sea" and I loved it! 3-D isn't like what I remembered when I was little -- it's even better now! Most of the kids in the theatre seemed to like the movie until the giant squid "eated" them. Once the giant squid "eated" some of the kids, they started to cry and had to be carried out by their parents. Don't worry, most kids stayed, but they definitely didn't want to see the squid again.

Later on Saturday, we went to the North End's "Little Italy" and picked up some supplies (ie olive oil, pancetta, canolis, etc.). I'm really happy that Ed and I went on the tour of Little Italy in July -- now we know where to buy all of the good stuff! If anyone is interested in Italian food or finding out more about Boston, I would recommend the tour...(http://www.northendmarkettours.com/html/markettours/markettours.html).

Recent Weekend Adventures

July 28th was another adventure day for Ed and I. We went biking around the town of Lexington and Concord, MA and the Minuteman National Park. Ed likes to torture me by making me always go look at forts, battlefields or airplanes. So...historically, everything was great -- they had signs posted every couple of yards (we actually stood where Paul Revere was arrested by the British). We also saw several grave sites -- even a couple for British soldiers, which I didn't quite understand because they were imperialists at the time, but whatever... Biking around the battlefields and towns was tons of fun even though we were caught in two downpours (as evidenced by Ed's and my beautiful photographs). And I must say, that I loved biking in the rain -- the puddles were lots of fun! And yes, I do understand that the Massachusetts roads can be toxic -- not to worry, I bathed when I returned home:-)

August 4th, Ed and I decided to go to the Portuguese Festival in New Bedford, MA. Fortunately, we were only there for the day because New Bedford isn't the kind of place that you want to be stuck in during the night because in the morning you would be driving away on a couple of rims (if you're lucky). The festival was interesting, we paid $5 to some guys to "watch" our car. And yes, when we returned, all wheels were still attached to my vehicle. The festival was okay -- we ate some good Portuguese food and had to tolerate some poor US music. You would think that they would've had some sort of traditional Portuguese song/dance, but I guess my expectations were too high. The decorations on a few of the streets and the church were fabulous, but as for the rest of the festival, it has turned in the US version of a fair -- cheap rides and even cheaper games. It was kind of unfortunate. I guess that I was expecting too much from the festival. We also checked out some of the Whaling National Historical Park and historical downtown New Bedford. The National Park even had some pamphlets on the Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska -- most Alaskans (minus Ed) don't even travel there much less someone in the Eastern US -- do you actually think that Bostonians know what an Inupiat is and mostly importantly, can they find Barrow on a map? In Ed's class, there are even some people who grew up in Boston and have lived here their entire lives that have never been to New Bedford (1.5 hours outside of the city).

Commerce Street - New Bedford, MA